.jpg "Andrea Comba photo")
University of Michigan Medical School
Ann Arbor, Alabama, United States
ANDREA COMBA PH.D. - RESEARCH INVESTIGATOR
DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSURGERY - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDICAL SCHOOL
The long-term aim of my research project is to identify potential targets that regulate brain tumors’ growth and invasion, ultimately translating these experimental findings into novel therapies. Treating gliomas remains a challenge in the field of neuro-oncology due to the tumors’ genetic aberrations, invasiveness, and heterogeneous components. We have recently discovered self-organized multicellular structures, which we named “oncostreams”. They represent mesenchymal transformation areas and act as anatomical drivers of glioma growth, expansion, and invasion. In this project, I aim to elucidate the functions and molecular mechanisms underlying mesenchymal and self-organized growth patterns of malignant gliomas, and their interactions with the tumor microenvironment. My graduate study in cellular and molecular cancer biology helped me to gain the expertise required for understanding the regulation of gene expression by oncogenic transcription factors. During my postdoctoral training in neuro-oncology in the Castro-Lowenstein lab, I became interested in the integrative study of gliomas. This multilevel approach to understanding malignant gliomas (i.e., at the pathological, functional, and molecular levels) will help me to determine novel molecules of potential translational relevance. I am utilizing in vivo mouse and patient-derived primary xenograft glioma models and human glioma biopsies to examine the molecular mechanisms that regulate the function of oncostreams. I analyzed the transcriptome of oncostreams by next-generation RNA sequencing coupled with laser microdissection methodology and bioinformatics analysis. The identified targets were then tested in novel genetically engineered glioma mouse models using the sleeping beauty transposase system. I am a highly motivated individual and will continue working hard for the future of my career.
